Resident Choice Awards: A Manipulated Sham

I have to say when this was first blogged about, I thought it was good, especially in light of the fact it would be based on resident input only. However, as is often the case, the awards became a huge disappointment once I saw the 'categories' people were given to vote in.

Sadly these categories are so narrow, there can be only one logical winner for each. So in effect by making the questions this narrow, LL has pre-determined the winner. In many cases there is only one place in SL which even fits into the category. Way to go LL, you have managed to 'fix' a voluntary voting process.

http://secondlife.com/resident-choice-awards/

Followed your link and found these questions:

My favorite place to groove on Live Music
My favorite place to Buy Stuff inworld
My favorite place to Dance my prim toes off
My favorite place to RP or Play Games with friends
My favorite fabulous Fashion Designer
My favorite house-rockin’ DJ
My favorite massively talented Musician
My favorite visionary Machinimist
My favorite awesome Architect/Builder
My favorite wizard-like Scripter
My favorite cuddly Linden Bear Museum
Best place to buy a Virtual Pet
My favorite place to take you Back in Time
My favorite place for Intellectual Conversation
Best place to Learn Another Language
My favorite culturally consequential Museum/Art Gallery
My favorite brainy Science Experiment/Exhibit
My favorite source for Second Life News
My favorite finger-on-the-pulse Resident Blogger
My favorite unforgettable Memorial
My favorite place to take a First Date
My favorite place to bring Business Colleagues
My favorite place to Chill With My Friends
My favorite place to get down and Get Furry
My favorite place to get your AO on and Be Tiny
My favorite place to Victorianize and get Steam Punky
My favorite place to be all helpful and Help Newbies
My favorite place to plan for the Robot Rebellion
My favorite romantic place to have your First Avatar Kiss
My favorite depressing place to Be Emo
My favorite trashed landscape in which to enjoy the Post Apocalypse
My favorite place to put the hammer down and Drive
My favorite creepy place to Be Goth
My favorite meshtastic Sculpty Artist
My favorite nom-nom-y Prim Food Artist


What am I missing here that makes you think there is only one logical answer? My favorite anything is not likely to be your favorite anything and visa versa- seems it is completely subjective, as it should be.

I think they could have maybe added my favorite.. just because. Otherwise it doesn't look like a bad list.

ah I see why she is upset they missed "My favorite bdsm collar shop" again!

how about my favoritist sex bed? or animator?

I don't get the problem at all. What seems obvious to you likely will be different to what I consider obvious.

wouldn't that fall under the question "My favorite place to Chill With My Friends"?

Or japanese furniture company!

Oh come on now, don't be deliberately obtuse. How many Linden Bear Museums are there in SL, honestly? Why couldn't the category be "Museums"?

How many Post Apocalyptic areas are there? Couldn't it have been "RP sim"?
How many places are there to 'Victorianize and get Steam Punky'? Shouldn't it have been 'Best place for bygone era roleplay'?

The categories are very leading, way too specific, and obviously designed to drive votes toward some of LL's favorite things.

Even if there was a collar category, which we all know damn well there never would be, I wouldn't participate. Awards are pretty much a joke.



But this just shows LL is like a parent that gives their kid a coloring book, but instead of letting them enjoy it, they insist on showing them the 'right way' to color, fussing over it and getting upset when they use the 'wrong' color and go outside the lines. LL really needs to honestly stop meddling and let people in SL decide things for themselves.

It would have been preferable if the list stuck to things to do rather than places to spend money. Anything involving money will end up being gamed to death by those who stand to profit.

haha true.. but ho hum.. this is the same as any SL competition.. depends on how many ppl you ask to go vote.

Phil can send all his bots ..

My favorite trashed landscape in which to enjoy the Post Apocalypse
.....Does "The mainland" count as an answer?

"My favorite depressing place to Be Emo"
.....How many of us are thingking "the SL Forums?"

"Best place to Learn Another Language"
.... any "new policy" blog post by the lindens?

I have to agree though, some of those categories are awfully specific, and leave out a lot of really deserving content creators. As a commercial content creator, I'm going to break type and say that I too wish these awards were non-commercial.

Why do we need a government sponsored popularity contest?

every single one of these questions seems very general to me. they don't seem narrow at all, and i cannot possibly imagine a logical winer for ANY one of them.

hmm maybe i can go vote for my gyne chair and nasty, evil clinic on this one.

Looks like a bit of fun to me and surely the good part will be if residents go around looking for locations to fit those categories.

The only thing i can imagine as obvious is Caledon- and that's only because Desmond posts here that I have heard of it. I havent' the vaguest notion where to find goths or post apocalyptic rp or any such thing, As for food- I did visit a cool place with wearable sushi As for dancing- com eon! you can't step with out tripping on a club! There's thousands to choose from.

35 categories, only 12 of which I feel at all appropriate for me to answer. And at least one of those 12 has only one possible answer in SL that I can assign to it. I will still vote for that one though, because even though the conclusion is as forced as a magician's "Pick a card" ploy, the venue deserves recognition.

How can someone who spends most of their time in SL being deaf possibly pick a best DJ, musician, or live music venue?

Depressing places? Robot rebellion? Post apocalypse? Goth? Not places I ever go, so how would I know?

And for me, a lot of the answers will be "The sim I live in"...

*shrugs* Bread and Circuses. Enjoy.

i thought the poll was for ALL residents with their many, vast opinions about what "best" is.

I didn't see a pie option . . .

Pep ( . . . so I won't be voting)

Well two come up when you do a search for “Linden Bear Museums”, but I know of two other’s than didn’t show up in the search. So to answer your question … 4

Well you asked …

At first I was troubled that it said one vote per avatar. That could be fifty votes for some traffic bot users.

Then I thought I should just lighten up. It sounds like fun.

So they didn't have to deal with the PR embarrassment of a Gorean sim winning.



Caledon, Winterfell, Isles of Fatima, New Babbage, Miskatonic, Londinium, Isola Gavia, Armada, Neufreistadt, Steeltopia, New Toulouse, Edison, Steelhead--I'm sure there are more.

Well maybe it's just me because I know exactly what LL loves to go on and on and on about. If you ever browse Linden Account picks, you'll see the same few places there every time. Some are generic, but some really leave a lot to be desired.

So for those that seem obvious to me, I'll put down my guesses for winner:

My favorite visionary Machinimist: Robbie Dingo
Best place to buy a Virtual Pet: Cartoonimals
My favorite place to Victorianize and get Steam Punky: Caledon
My favorite place to be all helpful and Help Newbies: the GNUbie Store
My favorite place to plan for the Robot Rebellion: Museum of Robots
My favorite romantic place to have your First Avatar Kiss: Gardens of Apollo
My favorite trashed landscape in which to enjoy the Post Apocalypse: The Wastelands

and so on and so on. Here's a hint, all of these places are on the showcase.

Hmm I really hope these categories are an April Fool's joke.

QFT.

i've only ever heard of ONE of those (Caledon), and that's only recently, and simply because i now own land there. i would have chosen a completely different place for victorian OR steampunk prior to my recent tour.